15/02/2014

Lost in Welsh

Welsh-speaking cyclists have been left baffled - and possibly concerned for their health - after a bizarre translation mix-up.

For instead of a road sign telling them to dismount, the Welsh translation informs them that 'bladder disease has returned'.

My Welsh is rudimentary in the extreme but if Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language society) can’t explain this, then nobody can.

This is not the first Welsh translation blunder although the previous one did have a rational explanation (BBC). In October 2008 Swansea council erected a road sign that was not what was intended. Instead of advising HGV drivers of lack of access it actually said in Welsh

I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.

That suggests to me that the Welsh translator sent back a monolingual out-of-office reply. If so, that is a rather silly thing to do.